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At its core, vegan jewellery excludes all animal-derived materials and ensures that its production process does not harm or involve animals in any way. Some of the most common animal-derived materials in jewellery are:
- Pearls; formed when a mollusc, such as an oyster or a mussel, secretes layers of calcium carbonate to coat a foreign particle that enters its shell. Unfortunately, this natural process is often exploited to harvest pearls in an excessive and unethical manner. The process of ‘culturing’, for example, involves raising and lowering oysters' cages to subject them to changing water temperatures and speed up the process of pearl formation. Fewer than half of oysters survive this ritual. Sadly, some farmers go on to kill oysters once their pearl has been extracted. We at Lebrusan Studio work exclusively with pearls that we know to be harvested in a sustainable manner, with minimal intervention. You can learn more about our Founder’s research and sourcing visit to an eco-friendly pearl farm in Polynesia here. Regardless of ethical credentials, however, pearl-set jewellery cannot be considered vegan.
- Leather; often used to create cuffs or chokers, incorporated as cord for necklace and bracelet straps, or used to create jewellery packaging like keepsake boxes and transporting pouches. Leather is a by-product of the meat industry, with some arguing that leather products are sustainable because they’re made from converted hide that would otherwise go to landfill. For those who align themselves with the vegan principle of not engaging with animal-derived products, however, leather is of course a no-go.
- Silk; created by boiling silkworms to harvest their cocoons. Whilst not particularly common, there are a number of jewellers around the world who continue to incorporate silk into their designs, from threading pearls and beads to the ancient Japanese art of Shibori. In spite of the advent of Peace Silk – an apparent attempt to humanise the silk production process – the ultimately cruel production process makesit difficult to advocate for silk as a product, whether or not from a vegan perspective.
Animal-derived materials like pearls and silk are an obvious place to start in your inquiry into vegan jewellery credentials, but a number of behind-the-scenes practices could also be seen to compromise a jewel’s vegan status, depending on the extent of your criteria. Here are some common traditional workshop processes that cannot be considered vegan:
1. Polishing compounds and pendant motor attachments containing animal derivatives, used to create shine
Polishing compounds are used in the final stages of jewellery production to clean the piece, remove surface imperfections, and add shine. Traditionally, polishing compounds contain stearic acid, which is made from animal fat. A vegan jeweller could swap out these traditional polishing compounds for water-based vegan alternatives.
Polishing pendant motor attachments, meanwhile, are brushes attached to a motor to rapidly buff and polish pieces of jewellery. These attachments are often made from wool or animal hair, but alternatives include calico cotton, vegan felt, or tufted cotton brushes.
2. Leather tools in a jeweller's workshop
In a traditional jeweller's workshop, you might find leather sandbags and bench skins to catch metal filings beneath the workbench during sawing. Likewise, it’s common for the handles of traditional tools like mallets and gravers to be made using leather. Although it is of course possible to replace these features with vegan alternatives, it’s worth bearing in mind that much of this equipment is resilient and time-honoured; no yet ready to be discarded and replaced.
4. Cuttlefish bone used in lost wax casting
Handcrafted jewellery is often made through a process called lost wax casting, which involves creating a mould from wax, pressing it into a cast, and pouring molten metal into it. Traditionally, this process is completed using cuttlefish bone, but vegan alternatives such as sand, stone and plaster are increasingly employed.
5. Beeswax
Beeswax is often used to create jewellery casting wax and lubricate saw blades. Again, however, it’s possible to replace beeswax with a vegan alternative such as candelilla wax.
For most jewellery brands, packaging is one of the key challenges to a ‘clean bill of veganism’, with traditional ring boxes and pouches largely made using leather. For the jewellery brands who wish to emulate the timeless finish of a leather box, plant-based leathers are thankfully more accessible than they’ve ever been. Piñatex, for example, is a popular leather alternative created using cellulose fibres extracted from pineapple leaves. Meanwhile, mushrooms, cacti and cork also lend themselves to vegan leather innovations.
At Lebrusan Studio, we dispatch all of our jewels in vegan packaging of recyclable or reusable components, printed using vegetable ink. You can learn more about our commitment to sustainable packaging here, and about the intersection of environmental sustainability and veganism in the next section.
There in as inextricable overlap between veganism and environmental sustainability, because the protection of ecosystems is the protection of animals. Unfortunately, greenwashing in the jewellery industry is rife, with many businesses making ‘eco-friendly’ claims without the means to verify them. If a jewellery brand cannot offer proof of intentional, measurable steps to minimise its impact on the environment, it’s probably not the right pick for a vegan customer.
At Lebrusan Studio, for example, we plant trees in the South American Andes for every piece of jewellery we sell to promote biodiversity and forest regeneration; we advocate forrepurposing and recycling, incorporating reclaimed materials and components into roughly 80% of our jewels; are members of the National Association of Jewellers’Created in the UK scheme, prioritising local manufacture; and do not work with any precious metal or gemstone that has been mined using toxic chemicals.
Abespoke pendant, crafted in London using recycled platinum and sapphires of traceable fair-traded origin
Transparency is the cornerstone of vegan jewellery. In order for customers to make informed decisions, it’s crucial for jewellers to disclose the origins of their materials and the manufacturing journeys of their jewels to the highest possible detail. Now we recognise the extent to which animal-derived products may be used behind-the-scenes, it’s easy to understand why vegan principles are not concerned merely with the end product.
We at Lebrusan Studio work closely with the craftspeople who bring our jewellery designs to life, visiting their Hatton Garden workshops on a weekly basis. We therefore know for sure that leather sandbags are customary in some workshops, and that our hand-engraver uses some traditional tools with leather handles. Sometimes, we transport gemstones or jewellery components from A to B on foot, using small leather pouches that are customary in the jewellery trade.
It’s worth mentioning here that virtually no jewellery brand could guarantee the use of zero animal-derived products from mine to final sale. We have seen how a small handful of animal-derived products remain a deeply ingrained aspect of the international jewellery trade and almost impossible to avoid. However, the more we know about our supply chains and manufacturing processes, the better equipped we are to identify areas for substitution and paint a comprehensive picture for our clients; who are then free to decide whether or not we are the jewellery brand for them. In other words, traceability is key. We are always open to your questions about our sourcing and production processes, endeavouring to answer in as much detail as possible.
This blog post has offered a definition for ‘vegan jewellery’ by highlighting all the ways in which a piece of jewellery could be considered non-vegan, offering you a guideline for the questions you should be asking your jeweller. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for a chat if there is anything you remain unsure of.
It's possible to embrace the beautiful materials that Mother Nature offers us without harming our beautiful planet. By asking questions, simplifying supply chains and sharing our knowledge with the world, we can achieve this balance.
